


Eve of the Hunt

by alltoseek



Category: Aubrey-Maturin Series - Patrick O'Brian
Genre: Domestic, Gen, Land!Jack is an idiot, Post Captain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-18
Updated: 2013-12-18
Packaged: 2018-01-05 02:31:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1088547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alltoseek/pseuds/alltoseek
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The day before Savile's hunt, Jack and Stephen discuss their neighbours.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Eve of the Hunt

**Author's Note:**

  * For [alcyone (Alcyone301)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alcyone301/gifts).



> Many thanks to my invaluable beta, feroxargentea; and especial heartfelt thanks to the awesome alcyone, who wrote the last three lines, thus massively improving the ending and indeed the whole fic :-)
> 
> Written for a prompt from alcyone, who won the bidding for me in the ao3auction on tumblr last spring: "anything placed in the earliest part of Post Captain, as our heroes are cast ashore during the brief peace. Jack & Stephen setting up housekeeping in a desirable gentleman's residence etc., before the focus shifts to Mapes Court".

Captain Aubrey entered the library of Melbury Lodge, where his friend Dr Maturin had several dozens of specimens spread out across the table. “Ah, Stephen, there you are!”

 _Yes, exactly where I have been all day_ , thought Stephen. “Good day to you, Jack.”

“Mr Savile says he will be very happy to see us at the hunt tomorrow. Do you truly mean to ride that God-damned mule of yours?”

“I do.”

 _Making us the laughing-stock of the neighbourhood_ , thought Jack. “Well, as long as he can keep up with the rest of us, I suppose.”

“Certainly he will.” _At least I will stay on him, brother, which is more than I can foresee for you and your mettlesome gelding_ , Stephen forbore to add.

“Well, well, well,” said Jack settling into a comfortably-stuffed armchair within speaking distance of his friend, but not so close as to be subjected to a detailed view of the specimens. “This is all working out very well, is it not? Delightful house, friendly neighbourhood, a welcoming hunt – just as we wanted, eh, Stephen?”

Stephen hummed noncommittally. He was absorbed in sorting his beetles. He'd never had excessive interest in them before, but he had recently met a very knowledgeable entomologist at a Royal Society meeting. Sir Joseph was good-humoured and articulate, had a number of remarkable insights into coleopterology, and his enthusiasm for his subject proved infectious.

“All this area lacks is some pretty girls. A few young charmers and we'd be all set.”

“No girls about good-looking enough for you, is it, Jack? I thought you were rather enjoying your flirtation with the maid at the inn.”

“Oh, wenches! No, no, I mean pretty ladies. Young ladies. At dinners and dances and so forth. Marriageable ones.”

“Ah! You have a mind to be married, now, brother? I had not realised.”

“Well... I don't know. Perhaps not precisely in a hurry, but I ought to be married sometime. Have a son, carry on the family name. Now is as good a time as ever, I should think. I have money enough, a career – of a sort, if only this blasted peace don't last too long. Now that I've been so successful a commander, I'm sure to be made post some time or other. If I'm to be married, I should think sooner rather than later – nothing worse for a boy than to have for a father an elderly decrepit sort who can't take him riding or shooting; I'd much rather be still in my prime whilst my children are growing up. Also, I'm not likely to become any more attractive to the young ladies as I age; best get a move on before I'm too scarred about and hideous.”

“I see you have given this some thought.”

“Well, perhaps. At sea the endless sameness of the company at dinner can get so tedious – no offence, brother – ”

“None taken, I assure you. I've had much the same thought myself.”

“Yes, well, one gets to imagining that on land there will be a greater variety of company, including, one often hopes, some feasts for the eyes as well as the belly, eh, Stephen? Not that I've any objection to our neighbours, you understand; pleasant fellows, for the most part. But nothing too likely among the younger set, sad to say.”

“We have yet to meet all our neighbours. I understand there to be an entirely female household not too far from here.”

“Oh, do you mean Mapes? Yes, I've heard of them. Can't possibly be promising. Why, they are but a parcel of spinsters and widows! I understand the eldest of the girls is as old as the younger widow.”

Stephen frowned. “I was given to understand she was widowed quite young, not even into her thirties yet.”

“Very well, perhaps the widow may be of interest – at least someone wanted to marry her once. But she was in India, you know, and that is never kind on the complexion. Not to mention that the Company fellows out there are none too particular about their wives. I still maintain that in a family of three daughters, none of them married, the eldest near thirty already, nothing good is to be found.”

“May I remind you we are both about thirty ourselves?”

Jack waved a hand dismissively. “That means nothing. For men it is different. Why, we are bound and required to establish ourselves before we take on the life-long support of a wife and children! For young ladies, once they have completed their education, there is no more improvement to be had. I don't know how it is in Ireland or Spain or other foreign parts, but here in England, if a girl ain't married by her early twenties, you can be sure there is something very wrong with her.”

“Perhaps she chooses not to be married. I understand Mapes has considerable wealth and standing in these parts.”

“And thus if the daughters choose to live on their own wealth and not be bothered with gentlemen, that just furthers my argument. No, brother, I'm afraid should we meet them, we will find nothing there but disappointment.”

“Is it so very great a risk, to meet a houseful of young ladies who may not prove to be marriageable?”

“Oh, no, of course not, and I am always happy to meet people; besides, you cannot make an omelette from a sow's ear, you know.”

“Brother, that is profoundly true.”


End file.
